It wasn't supposed to be like this
by StarkidGleek12
Summary: Ryder becomes consumed with finding the identity of Katie. He knows it's someone close to him, but he doesn't realize how close as regionals comes looming closer for the new directions. Confessions will be made. Secrets and feelings will be revealed. Heartbreak will ensue. Is anyone safe? I own nothing related to glee. Please R&R :)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, i'm back! I'm still working on some other Ryley stories, but i'm having issues with writers block on some of them. This idea came to me when I read the upcoming spoilers for the season finale which involve how Ryder finds out who's catfishing him. This is what I wish would happen, because it results in a Ryley endgame (OF COURSE!), but it probably won't. So, I just had to write it down. This will be more chapters, but tonight i'm posting the first two, just because I can. I'll try to update as often as possible and maybe post some other stuff in the future to get through the summer hiatus. By the way, I'm sorry all my fanfics center around Ryley and I tend to villianize Jake a little too much. I really do think Jake is an okay guy, but I don't know. He's not the loveable bad boy like Puck is! I already know who is the catfish. Or is there more than one? ;) ;) But if you guys have any guesses on who it is, i'd love to see it in the reviews :)Anyways, I hope you enjoy this and I would appreciate any reviews so I keep motivated to please the loyal fans! If this chapter seems short, it's because the first couple are setting up the plot and it's going to be told in different characters' POVs (Mainly Ryder and Marley). Love you all, and I own nothing related to glee. I still want to punch someone for all the Jarley and Ritty (or is it Kyder?) gooey crap that went on the last episode : I will NEVER give up on Ryley, I ship this couple like nobody's business. I'm so emotionally invested in it, I don't have time to worry about my own love life. It's sad, really. Anyways, on to the story :)**

**Marley's POV**

"Hey Kitty!" Marley greeted cheerfully to her friend at their lockers after Glee practice.

"What?" Kitty replied snarkily. Marley was shocked by the sudden behavior. Sure, she'd always been a bitch to Marley until recently, but Marley was surprised by the new sudden shift in attitude.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing." Marley replied meekly.

"Really? Just because we had a moment when we thought we were going to die and we acted like friends for a week, it doesn't change anything. You're still a conniving, boyfriend-stealing whore. And it seems I'm the only one who can see past that little nice girl façade, so let's not pretend anymore, okay?" Kitty answered before sauntering away.

Marley was taken aback by this. What was her deal? Then, she felt the arms of her boyfriend Jake Puckerman wrap around her waist. Usually Marley liked this, but it was starting to feel more forced. Like the littlest gestures between them required more effort. As far as they were concerned, they were still supposedly in the blissful, beginning relationship phase, but something was making her wonder if they'd ever make it past that stage.

"What was that about?" Jake asked, looking surprised.

"I don't know." Marley answered truthfully. "You still talk to her more than I do, do you have any idea what wrong?" Marley asked Jake as they walked down the hallway.

"Not a clue. Maybe Coach Roz finally put her in her place or something." Jake shrugged. "Now, let's go to class. By he way, my mom invited you to family dinner tonight with Puck and his mom." Jake said as he steered Marley down the hallway.

"Sounds good." she answered as they went to their separate classes.

As Marley walked to math class, she walked passed Ryder, who seemed pretty preoccupied with his cell phone. She waved and he waved back half-heartedly. She felt so bad for him and really wanted to find out who Katie was. Despite all the drama that's been going down, they had history and she really cared about him, even if she didn't show it. He was her first kiss and that was a connection they'd have that she'd never have with Jake.

She walked into math class, where she sat next to Blaine and Sam, who both eagerly waved at her.

"Hey Blaine." she said cheerfully. "Sam." she said stiffly as she was still irritated at how insensitive he acted towards Ryder earlier that week.

"Marley, I know you're still pissed at me for how we were when Ryder revealed his huge secret, and I'm sorry." Sam said when he picked up on Marley's attitude.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." she snapped at him.

"You just got served." Blaine snickered.

"You're right Marley, which is why Artie and I are going to talk to him today and offer to help him find out who Katie really is." Sam replied.

"Fine. And I'll help you too." Marley offered, accepting Sam's truce.

"I'll also help." Blaine offered absentmindedly.

"Yes! Glee goes Argo!" Sam exclaimed.

Marley glanced over at Blaine's cell phone on his desk and noticed he was looking at engagement and wedding rings on Pinterest. Then, he picked up his phone and showed Marley a pin he particularly liked.

"Hey Marley, what do you think about this engagement ring?" he asked her thoughtfully. "Do you think Kurt would like it?"

"It's a beautiful ring, but don't you want something more personal? I mean, this was pinned like six months ago, so a ton of other people might have it." Marley reasoned. "Why are you looking at engagement rings for Kurt?" Marley asked curiously.

"Yeah, aren't you guys like, broken up?" Sam snickered as Marley kicked him under the desks.

"Don't you have a filter from your brain to your mouth?" she asked him irritably.

"No. I like being just as surprised as everyone else by the words that come out of my mouth." he said simply.

"Shut up Sam." Marley and Blaine said in unison as Ms. Holliday started class.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Chapter two! Hope everyone is liking the story, especially this chapter because I was not pleased with how the Sam and Artie thing was handled in the lights out episode and I wanted them to apologize for being douchebags. Also, I know I usually go with the whole "Marley is the victim and Ryder is the knight in shining armor" thing, but I wanted to try something new with this story, especially after the vulnernability that Ryder showed during lights out. Anyway, I own nothing related to Glee and I would love it if y'all could leave a review :)**

**Ryder's POV**

Katie, I'm done with this! You keep blowing me off and expect to keep whatever this is up. I don't know if I can trust you anymore.

Ryder typed into his phone's touch screen, hoping that maybe "Katie" would finally reveal his or hers true identity.

A few seconds later, he received a reply. _What's wrong babe? _the message read simply. Ryder groaned in frustration. Before he could reply back, he was interrupted by someone. He turned around to see Mr. Schue, who tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey Ryder, do you have a few minutes to chat?" he asked him.

"Um, yeah. I guess. What is this about?" Ryder asked as he followed him into the choir room.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing after what you said a few days ago in Glee club about being molested." he prompted.

"Oh, I guess I'm doing fine." Ryder shrugged.

"Okay then, you mentioned that you wanted to tell everyone before the person you told could reveal it to the whole school, why do you think that person would do that?" Mr. Schue asked him as they sat down on the stools.

"I don't know, but this person's been good at getting me to tell every single detail about my life and I feel like I don't even know them anymore." Ryder said stiffly.

"If I may ask, who is this person you're referring to?" he asked.

"I don't know. She was just some girl who friended me on Facebook after Valentine's day. We started talking, and things sort of got out of control." Ryder mumbled.

"Wait, you've never met her face to face? Ryder, why would you trust her then?" the teacher questioned.

"I don't know, I guess I was lonely. I mean, I pretty much got rejected by the only girl I've ever liked and her boyfriend just sort of rubbed it my face. Talking to Katie was like talking to Marley, except that Katie actually gave me the time of day." he replied, turning red at the last part.

"Ohhhh, I see." Mr. Schue replied sympathetically. "I know what that whole thing feels like, the same thing happened with me and Ms. Pillsbury only differently. Unrequited love sucks, doesn't it?" Mr. Schue chuckled. "So do you have any idea who's behind this?" he asked.

"No. I almost thought it was someone in the Glee club when a phone went off when I tried to call Katie during the lockdown, but I asked everyone and it wasn't them. It could be someone lying to me, but who would do something like that?" Ryder replied.

"I don't know. But I'll help you get to the bottom of this and make sure they get punished for this." Mr. Schue promised. Then, they were interrupted by the sound of two people entering the room. It was Sam and Artie.

"Hey, I hope we weren't interrupting anything." Artie asked.

"No, not at all. I'm glad you guys dropped by." Mr. Schue replied.

"Anyways Ryder, we wanted to apologize for being douche bags. We didn't realize how that could mess with you and all the girls ripped us a new one and we realized that what we said was really insensitive. It took a lot of balls to admit something like that and we shouldn't have turned it into a joke." Sam said sincerely.

"Um, thanks guys, it means a lot for you to say that." Ryder sighed.

"Yeah, and we didn't realize that it hurt even more after the whole catfish thing and we wanted to let you know, that we'll also help you find out who's doing this. Blaine and Marley are also helping, so we should be able to find the culprit in no time." Artie said confidently.

"Why are you all helping me? I mean, this is my problem, I don't want to burden you when we should be focused on regionals." Ryder mumbled.

"Because, it's not cool to use someone like this Katie chick has been using you. And we're a family in this Glee club. We all sort of lost focus on that when we ignored Marley's eating disorder during sectionals, and we lost because we forgot to look out for each other, and that's not happening again." Sam replied.

"Thanks guys, but the only way we're ever going to find Katie, we're going to have to get the dude who hosts _Catfish_ to help." Ryder said dejectedly.

"No we don't. Just trust us. We'll find the catfish." Artie replied.

"Okay then, where do we start?" Ryder said as he felt his spirits lift with Artie and Sam's confidence.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Ok, I'm posting all that I have of this story so far, but that's because i'm proud of how it's turning out and I wanted to get this out before any of the catfish plot points would be revealed before the next two episodes! I hope everyone enjoys tonight's Stevie Wonder tribute tonight! I know I will, but my favorite tribute episode will forever always be the Whitney Houston one so they'll have to pull out the stops for me to change my mind! Anyways, I attempted to humanize Kitty in this chapter a little bit, which is super hard, but I have to say, I'm starting to like Kitty a lot more with the recent episodes! On the other hand, I'm starting to really despise Jake a little bit after seeing the scene spoiler where Mercedes and Mike give Jake the talk about how he's the Glee club's secret weapon. Jake is starting to come off as super conceited and I think Ryder is more of the potential Glee club leader based on his storylines as of recently. On that note, I wouldn't mind if Jake decided to go out to L.A. with Mercedes and become famous with her, but that's probably my Ryley feels taking over. I probably failed making Kitty nice considering the slight turn of events, but it'll all work out for the newbies in the end ;) Sorry for the rant, but I had to get it out of my system. Anyways, I own nothing related to Glee and please leave a review :)**

**Kitty's POV**

Kitty's day could not have been any worse. First, there was coach Roz, who was giving Kitty hell during cheerios practice. Then, she kept getting cold-shouldered by Ryder, who seemed convinced that the whole catfish thing was just some huge misunderstanding and he could laugh it off whenever he found out who Katie really was and they'd live happily ever after. She wasn't sure if she really liked Ryder, but he was good company. He was what every girl liked in a guy: handsome, sweet, and funny. She felt like she could relate to him in some ways. Not only did they both have tragic secrets from their past they were ashamed of, but she also knew what it felt like to be rejected by the person you really liked, even if they were dating the wrong person. Not only was she being rejected by Jake, but Ryder too. She honestly felt bad for the poor guy. Not only was Marley stupid enough to reject him for a guy who didn't know her like Ryder did, but he was also desperately clinging onto some fantasy girl who's using him. She knew the only reason he was so attached to the Katie delusion was because he missed Marley. She never thought she'd be so jealous of Marley. It always seemed like Marley had nothing compared to Kitty, so why did Marley always get everything Kitty wanted? Kitty was in the middle of her pity party in the library when she was interrupted by Jake.

"So, why in the hell did you snap at Marley earlier?" Jake asked her curiously.

"She was annoying me. Much like you are now. Speaking of bargain basement Barbie, shouldn't you be sucking her face off now?" Kitty said spitefully.

"Yeah, if only. Believe it or not, the longest time we've ever kissed was for like, ten minutes and she freaked out when I put my hand under her shirt. She ripped my ass because she thought I was trying to have sex with her. Yelled at me for a good thirty minutes about how she wasn't ready yet and how I wasn't respecting her boundaries and other feminist bullshit like that. Talk about a real boner killer." he scoffed.

"Oh, so you weren't trying to get laid?" Kitty asked sarcastically.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, she says that she loves me and only me, so wouldn't you think she'd be ready to give all of herself to me?" Jake asked. Kitty knew it was a rhetorical question, but it didn't stop her from responding anyway.

"You act like every girl wants the full Puckerman experience. Trust me, it's nothing special." Kitty scoffed. She smirked when she noticed Jake's offended face.

"Oh, so now not only are Marley and Ryder calling me out on this, but you're ganging up on me too?" he asked irritably.

"Yeah. You're kind of being an asshole about it. So she's not ready to swipe her v-card yet? I'm sure even you could stand a few cold showers until she's ready." Kitty reasoned.

"What should I do? Go up to her and apologize for being a guy? 'Marley, I'm sorry for trying to take your virginity?'" Jake said mockingly.

"Oh God, I'd pay to see her throw something at you after that apology!" Kitty laughed. She noticed Jake staring slightly and then he looked away as she caught him.

"What, Puckerman?" Kitty asked.

"Nothing, it's just I never see you laugh at anything. It makes you a more pleasant person to be around." Jake smirked. "Anyways, why do you think she's making such a big deal out of this?" Jake asked.

"Because sex is a big deal for girls. If the first time is with the wrong person, then it screws up your perspective on sex." Kitty sighed. "Girls want romance. Something they can remember." Kitty replied wistfully.

"Wasn't your first time with Puck in the backseat of your car behind the sonic?" Jake snickered.

"Yeah?! And by the way, how in the hell do you know about that?!" Kitty asked angrily.

"Puck told me about it." Jake replied simply. "By the way, I'm glad you guys broke up." he added.

"Why?" Kitty asked cautiously.

"Because you guys didn't mesh that well." Jake replied awkwardly.

"I could say the same about you and Marley." she shot back.

"What do you mean?" Jake asked, looking somewhat confused.

"Cut the crap, Puckerman. Why else would you have come ranting to me about how your precious girlfriend doesn't want to have sex with you? She deserves to be with someone who will give her the respect she wants, much like you deserve to have someone who wants you unconditionally." Kitty sighed.

"You think she's still conflicted?" Jake asked her.

"Honestly? You guys look like you won the prize, but it seems like it wasn't all it was hyped up to be. No offense, but if I didn't tell her that Ryder wasn't interested in her when they had their thing going on, they'd be together now." Kitty confessed.

"Wait, you told her that? When? Great, now I feel like the consolation prize." he muttered.

"I told her that when he had to reschedule their date before sectionals. I did it because I was jealous of her. I know, it was stupid and it backfired and we're all in this hot mess. I don't know why you're so worried anyway. You got the girl in the end. Don't you think it's time to stop messing with everything?" she said irritably.

"Kitty, you don't understand. I don't have the girl, I never had her. Ryder knows her better than she knows herself. They have a connection that we'll never have. Sometimes, I actually have to wonder why I'm holding on so hard." Jake replied.

"Ask yourself this: if it was really love, than why do you have to try so hard?" Kitty said quietly.

"I don't know anymore. You want to know something? I'm actually getting tired of stringing her along. I care about her a lot, but it feels like we'd be a lot more comfortable as friends. And I also hate screwing Ryder over in the process." Jake admitted.

"I see someone has a conscious." Kitty smirked.

"Could say the same for you. I saw the puppy eyes you were making at Ryder." Jake smirked.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't work out. I kind of have my eyes on someone else, he's just too stupid to realize it." Kitty said quietly.

"Who is it? Artie? I saw the way he looked at you during guilty pleasures week." Jake chuckled.

As Jake's eyes twinkled in her direction, something in her snapped. She felt like she was having an out-of-body experience as she connected her lips to his. She expected Jake to pull away, but he deepened the kiss and cupped her face in the process. She felt like she was in heaven. Until she realized the situation they were in and pulled away first.

"That…was so inappropriate. I'm sorry." Kitty sighed as Jake looked at her in shock.

Before he could answer, she noticed a cell phone going off somewhere near her. She looked at her cell phone and discovered that it wasn't that one that was going off, so she looked in her book bag until she found the old blackberry that used to belong to her brother. That one wasn't ringing either, but it still didn't stop her heart from beating faster than normal as she shot a glare at the person whose cell phone actually went off.

"It wasn't him?" Jake asked hurriedly.

"No. Thank God. I thought I gave you the phone a couple of days ago? I told you I was done with this already." Kitty said irritably.

"What am I supposed to say to him to get him to trust Katie again? You started the conversations!" Jake whispered.

"I don't know! But he doesn't trust Katie anymore. He keeps asking who she is and why they can't meet and I don't know how to keep this up anymore. It's time to be honest with Ryder, because this is killing him." Kitty replied urgently.

"No! We can't admit that we've been catfishing him. He'll hate us either way. Besides, this is practically foolproof, he'll never find out who it was and he'll forget about Katie." Jake said firmly.

"Jake, we need to make this right. It's better to tell the truth and accept the consequences. Besides, there wasn't any _us_. You came up with this stupid plan to get back at him and get him away from your girl. And I was stupid enough to agree to helping you. If you don't tell him first, then I'll go to Principal Figgins and turn you in. You realize that asking him to send those pictures is a form of sexting, which will get you expelled. Do you really want this to get any messier than it already is?" Kitty said slyly.

"No, I don't. Which is why you won't tell anyone." Jake replied quietly.

"And why not?" Kitty scoffed.

"Because I'll tell Principal Figgins that you were also in on it and that the pictures were all your idea. Oh, and I might add that you were the one who took in Marley's _Grease _costume. Something that she was nice enough to not tell anyone else about after you told her. And I'll tell her that her new _best friend_ made a move on me." Jake bargained.

"You know what? Fine. I won't tell anyone. But only because I can't wait to see how this will all backfire in your face!" Kitty said fiercely.

"Fine, Kitty. But make sure he doesn't find out and it won't backfire." he replied as he walked away, leaving Kitty feeling worse than she ever felt before in her life.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I hope y'all are liking this story as it's unfolding! This one is the longest, but it's the one that will be one of the most important to the story. I own nothing related to glee and please leave a review because I'd really love some feedback! **

**Marley's POV**

"Marley, this is pointless. We'll never find Katie." Ryder moaned as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Yes we will." she countered as she continued typing away on the computer during their free period.

"Really? Because Artie's a tech genius and he can't trace the cell phone or the IP address because it's a school computer. If he can't find it, no one will.

"Ryder? Please trust me." she begged.

"Fine." he sighed as he leaned back into his chair. "Oh, and please ignore the spelling errors." he added ashamedly as she continued going through all the messages him and Katie exchanged.

"Already have. Ryder, these conversations sound like ones we've had before." she said quietly as she read the details of the private conversations.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah. I mean, you told me about your _Star Wars_ sheets a long time ago, so clearly Katie isn't the only one who knew that." Marley replied.

"Oh. I guess I forgot that I told you that." he mumbled.

"Wait a minute. Ryder, did you start talking to Katie because I was with Jake?" Marley asked cautiously as she read the part where he said he might have been getting over her.

"Marley, it wasn't about you!" Ryder said defensively as he stormed away from Marley.

Marley sighed, wishing everything wasn't so confusing for her. She continued to go through the messages as she heard a beep coming from the computer. Katie had just tried to send him a new message.

**Katie_XOXO: Hey babe ****J**** you sent me a weird text earlier. Is everything OK?**

Marley felt anger go through her body as she received the message. Some may have said she was jealous and maybe a little part of her was, but she was angry that Katie had the nerve to continue talking to him. So, she decided to reply.

**Ryder_Lynn: Hey Katie. This isn't Ryder. It's Marley. And it's not OK to screw him over. Why don't you stop being a coward and just tell him who you are?**

**Katie_XOXO: What the hell are you doing, going through our private conversations?! This isn't any of your business anymore. He doesn't want to be strung along while you go through your daddy complex and choose the projects over a guy that cared about you. P.S., HE'S OVER YOU!**

**Ryder_Lynn: Wow, you sound like a real charmer. No wonder he's into of you to pass judgment when you don't know who I am. Oh and P.S., asking him to send nude pictures? It's not cute, it's trashy. Trust me, I will find out who you are.**

**Katie_XOXO: Good luck with that.**

Then, Katie signed off. At least she scared Katie a little bit. Hopefully, it'll get them one step closer to finding out who it is. Then, she got a text from Jake, who was telling her that he was waiting for her in the parking lot. Marley signed off the internet and met Jake at his car. He gave her a kiss as she got in.

"Hey babe. Where were you?" he asked as they drove off from the school.

"Trying to help Ryder find out who Katie is." Marley replied. Jake practically slammed his brakes.

"Why?" he stammered.

"Because he needs help. He really wants to know who's behind him." Marley said calmly.

"You guys will never find her. Maybe you should let it go. Just tell Ryder to stop talking to her." he said fiercely.

"Jake, he can't just do that. He trusted her with his deepest and darkest secrets. He doesn't know who he can trust anymore since he found out Katie wasn't who she said she was." she said quietly.

"Why do you care so much? Don't you think it hurts him even more that you're so jealous of Katie when he's trying to move on from you?" Jake sneered.

"I care because no matter what happened between us, I can't stop caring about him." Marley shot back. "Look, can we please forget about this? I hate fighting with you." she added quietly.

"We wouldn't have to fight if you weren't so stubborn. Sometimes, I feel like you think that you made a mistake choosing me instead of him." he admitted.

"He's my best friend, I can't just forget about him. Do you think you made a mistake?" she asked him seriously.

"Of…of course not, Marley." he said. Something in his eyes made her believe he was lying to her, but she was willing to let it go.

"Okay, fine. Can we please go?" Marley urged, playfully nudging Jake until h chuckled and leaned over to kiss her.

"Yes, let's go. And you'll have to ignore Puck's awkward sexual innuendoes." Jake chuckled.

"Duly noted." she laughed.

After dinner that night, Marley was sitting in the living room working on homework while Jake was helping his mom clean up the kitchen. As she worked on her math homework, she heard a buzzing coming from Jake's backpack and noticed something lighting up from the mesh side pocket. It looked like an old blackberry of some sort. But Marley knew that he didn't have that type of cell phone. Out of curiosity, she pulled the cell phone out and looked at the screen. She looked to see who was texting Jake and was surprised to find it was Ryder. She read the message and could swear that her heart stopped beating as she read the text.

_**Katie? Please answer me. I need to know who you are.**_

"Oh my God." she said to herself. She couldn't believe it. Why would Jake have this phone? It all seemed too good to be true. She took out her phone and compared the Katie number Ryder gave her to the number of the blackberry and it was the same. Why was this happening? Marley took the blackberry and dialed Ryder's number to see if he it was him. After one ring, she heard Ryder's voice.

_"Katie?" _he prompted. Marley could hear the shock in his voice. Quickly, Marley ended the call and put the cell phone back in the backpack as Jake came back into the living room. Suddenly, Marley didn't feel safe there anymore and threw her books in her bag and got up to leave.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jake asked curiously as she tried to shuffle past him.

"Nothing. It's my mom, she wants me to come home." Marley lied.

"Why? Do you need a ride home?" Jake asked.

"No, I'll be fine. It's still daylight." Marley stammered as she left the house.

Her house was about an hour walk from Jake's and the sky was quickly getting dark. On top of that, Jake lived in the Lima Heights Adjacent district of town, which Marley never felt safe walking in. If her mentor Santana Lopez wasn't out with some of the older Glee club members, she would've asked Santana to pick her up. But Marley didn't care. She just needed to get far away from Jake and process what happened. A part of her wanted to refuse that Jake was catfishing Ryder. Why would he want to betray his best friend, who'd already been through so much? Marley didn't notice that she had just walked past the school, but she still had a good thirty minute walk back home and it was almost completely dark. Then, a car pulled up beside her and Kitty popped her head out to get her attention.

"Marley? What are you doing out here so late?" she asked curiously.

"I was at Unique's house and now I have to get home." Marley tried to say nonchalantly.

"Unique lives on the same side of town that you do. Why would you be here by the school?" Kitty frowned.

"Fine! You got me, I was at Jake's and I had to leave. Now that we got that out of the way, you can leave me alone. I'm sure you have better things to do." Marley muttered.

"Get in the car. I'm giving you a ride home." she replied sympathetically.

"Why?" Marley asked suspiciously.

"Because it's dark and you already look exhausted. Besides, you're my friend, despite what I said to you earlier. Consider this my apology." Kitty sighed as she stopped the car.

"If I get in, are you going to murder me or something?" she asked.

"No! I know I'm a bitch, but I don't think I'm all evil." Kitty laughed. "If you don't get in this car right now, I'm calling the police to say you're a suicidal runaway and we can't have that. Please get in? I can't have it on my conscious if you get mugged and killed by a hobo." Kitty pleaded.

Marley sighed and got in the passenger seat.

"So why didn't Jake give you a ride home?" Kitty asked curiously.

"I wouldn't let him. I needed to get away from him." Marley answered.

"Why?" Kitty asked, looking confused.

"You wouldn't understand. I just didn't feel safe there anymore." Marley sighed.

"Did he do something to you?" she questioned.

"No, just…something happened and I feel like I don't know him anymore." Marley answered.

"Okay, clearly we need to have some lattes and girl talk." Kitty said as she pulled into the Lima Bean.

"You like iced caramel lattes, right?" Kitty confirmed as Marley nodded her head.

"Cool, me too." Kitty smiled. "Two iced caramel lattes, please." Kitty said to the barista as she batted her eyes at him. Marley noticed that he kept looking over at them and Kitty nudged Marley. "Just smile and flirt with your eyes a little bit, okay?" she whispered. Marley tried to oblige as best as she could. Five minutes later, the barista walked over to them and handed them their drinks.

"It's on the house." he winked at them. Marley raised an eyebrow at Kitty as she shrugged her shoulders.

"That's Chip. He's the president of the frat house of the University of Lima. He's a sucker for the high school girls. He'll make you the best drinks here if you flirt with him a little bit." Kitty smirked.

"Wow, that is the best latte I've ever had here." Marley agreed as she took a sip.

"So what's the deal with you and Puckerman?" Kitty asked.

"I don't know. It seems like everything is going fine, until something happens." Marley replied miserably.

"Well, what happened?" Kitty coaxed.

"If I tell you this, do you swear not to tell anybody?" Marley pleaded as she looked around the coffee shop to make sure they couldn't be overheard.

"I swear. Now please tell me! The suspense is killing me! Let me guess, Jake's questioning his sexuality? I always suspected he had a thing for Ryder." Kitty joked.

"No, Kitty." Marley growled. "I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I think Jake's the one catfishing Ryder." Marley whispered. And Kitty looked just as surprised as Marley was.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I opted to split the coffee shop part into two parts to get Kitty's POV on the big reveal because obviously, Kitty plays a part in it. The next chapter will be in either Ryder or Jake's POV. I really hope these split POVs aren't confusing you guys at all! I own nothing related to Glee and please review :) I love all of you and I hope y'all have a fabulous day!**

**Kitty's POV**

There was no way that Marley could have been the one to discover that Jake was behind the whole thing! How could have he been so stupid to let her find out after he was the one harping on her to make sure not to slip up? Her heart practically stopped as Marley admitted her suspicions. She knew that Marley was going to help Ryder find out who it is. Not only was she the one who had the Katie conversation with Marley earlier, but Jake had also warned her that Marley was getting involved in this. But she was sure that the plan was near flawless. Sure, they had a couple of hitches in the plan, starting when Ryder decided to serenade the girl whose pictures they took to use as Katie's. But they thought they were in the clear. All she wanted was to be done with this stupid prank, because she was starting to feel the web of deception they wove unravel.

"Why do you think that?" Kitty stammered, needing to get more information.

"Because I was hanging out at Jake's when I heard a buzzing noise from his backpack. I knew he had his cell phone on him, so I thought it was weird that he had an old blackberry in his bag too. I looked at the phone from his bag and Ryder had texted it. So I compared the number from that phone to the Katie number that Ryder gave me earlier and it was the same. And then, I called Ryder from that phone and he picked up, expecting to hear from Katie, so I hung up. I know this sounds completely crazy, but it seems like everything is pointing to him." Marley confessed.

"No, trust me, it makes a lot of sense." Kitty admitted as she mentally kicked herself and cursed Jake for being so clueless. "But why do you think he'd do it?" Kitty asked, hoping the girl would realize how insane this all sounded and would give up.

"I don't know. To get Ryder away from me? To get back at him for that kiss? None of this makes any sense!" Marley said in despair.

Great, this girl was smarter than she looked, Kitty thought to herself. But then she got an idea. "So what are you going to do about this?" Kitty asked nonchalantly.

"I don't know. Should I confront Jake about this? And should I tell Ryder that his best friend is doing this to him?" Marley asked.

She knew she'd regret telling Marley this later, but now that the plan was completely ruined, the crap she told Jake earlier about being honest and facing the consequences like a man completely flew out the window. "No, you shouldn't tell anyone." Kitty told her firmly.

"Why? I mean, Ryder at least deserves to know that Jake screwed him over." Marley tried to reason.

"Yes, but now's not the right time. The Glee club has regionals next week and we just now got to the point where we can work together as a team. Jake would get in so much trouble and Ryder would fly off the handle and we'll lose the competition. Would you really want that on your conscious if we lost again?" Kitty replied smoothly, knowing the part about Marley feeling guilty that they'd lose would get under her skin.

"You're right." Marley agreed quietly. "But Ryder deserves some sort of closure." Marley thought out loud. Her hero complex was really starting to get under Kitty's skin.

"And he'll get it. Soon. Just please wait? And what about Jake? If you throw him under the bus, then he'll think you're choosing Ryder over your own boyfriend. Do you think he'll like that?" Kitty answered.

"I don't care about that anymore. Jake shouldn't have done that, no matter what his reasons were! Frankly, he deserves to get what's coming to him." Marley said furiously.

"So you're saying that you made a mistake choosing Jake over Ryder?" Kitty asked quietly.

"I…I don't know! I mean first of all, sometimes it doesn't feel like Jake knows me. And now he did this. I can't trust him." Marley shot back.

"Maybe he didn't feel like he could trust you either. You did admit that you let Ryder kiss you." Kitty replied quietly.

"Well, what do you suggest? Because either way, this will end in disaster and I don't know what to do." Marley snapped.

"I don't know. But we're all in this hot mess, and we need to tighten up and stop with the drama, because we have regionals coming up, the seniors are relying on us to help and I want us to win. Now, we should probably go, because I have curfew at nine and my mom is pretty strict about it on school nights." Kitty said as she stood up.

"You're right. And I'm sorry for saddling my drama on you." Marley smiled apologetically.

"It's fine, you looked like you needed a little rant session. I know you care about both of them and Jake is being a complete jackass for this." Kitty responded as they got in the car.

Marley dropped the subject, which Kitty was grateful for. They ranted about the setlist for the competition and Kitty was grateful that someone else agreed that singing the _Snooki and J-Woww _theme song was a bad idea, but they'd have to suck it up because Unique and Tina were fighting everyone for the stupid song. When Kitty dropped Marley off at her house, she had a dilemma of her own; did she have to tell Jake that their plan had been ruined or would she let everything blow up in his face? Screw him, she thought. It was his stupid idea in the first place. Frankly, she would love for Ryder to beat the crap out of Jake for crossing the line like he did. But she hated betraying Marley. After all the crap she put the girl through, Marley still treated her better than she deserved and she was the only real friend Kitty ever had. But maybe in the process, Jake would realize that he was with the wrong girl the whole time.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey! I wasn't going to post this so soon because I should really be focused on packing up my dorm room right now, but I'm a major procrastinator, so... :) I'm posting this for my lovely first two reviewers, Gleeotch13 and Angelina Johnson and the people who followed and favorited the story so far and HG and PJO 4ever for PM'ig me and complimenting my writing :) I know people write fanfiction for themselves for fun and not necessarily for exposure, but when someone takes the time to review or PM me or even follow or favorite my stories, it makes me feel like people are actually reading! I love all of you that have read this story or any of my other FFs and I hate having to mention this every time because if I owned anything related to glee, things would make a lot more sense, but I digress. I own nothing related to glee and please review! This is a shorter chapter, but I wanted a little bit of Jake's POV after Marley bolted. The next chapter will either be in Marley or Ryder's POV. Have a lovely day y'all and I'll try and update as soon as I possibly can :)**

**Jake's POV**

"Marley, did you get home safely? Please call me back so I know." Jake pleaded into his cell phone a couple of hours after Marley left

This had to have been the twentieth phone message he's left, not counting the text messages he also sent, but he had a nagging suspicion that she wasn't going to respond. He was wondering what the hell happened with her when the blackberry in his backpack started ringing. He knew it was Ryder, but why was he trying to call the Katie number? They had only communicated over text messages and Facebook messages. Jake just let him leave a voicemail.

_"Katie, I know you tried to call me earlier! This is getting really ridiculous, I don't understand why you don't want to meet me in real life! Can we please just stop all this crap?!"_ Jake could hear the anger in Ryder's voice.

But what was he talking about? Jake never tried to call him. At first, he thought that maybe the phone accidentally dialed itself, but somehow he thought that wasn't the case. So Jake pulled out the cell phone and looked at the messages to see if he missed anything. There was a bunch of unread text messages from Ryder that all went along the same lines of the phone message. But he noticed one that was opened a few minutes after seven o'clock when Marley was still there with him. When she was alone in the living room with his backpack while he was in the kitchen.

He was horrorstruck as he realized that the last person besides Ryder that they'd want to know about the prank might already know. Why else would she have left so suddenly? He looked at the call log to see if there was anything he might've missed. The last call made was logged in at 7:12p.m., it was only a ten second call, but that was enough for him to know. Kitty was right, this plan was already blowing up in his face and he had no idea what to do. If he had any doubts about his relationship with Marley, it didn't matter because if she found out that it was him catfishing Ryder, she would definitely break up with him now. He needed to call Kitty to come up with a strategy. He was impatient as he waited for Kitty to pick up her phone.

"Come up Kitty, hurry up and pick up the damn phone." he accidentally said out loud as Kitty picked up the phone.

_"Chill out, Jake! God, what do you want?"_ Kitty answered harshly.

"Sorry, it's just, I think Marley found out about me catfishing Ryder." Jake sighed.

_"No shit, Sherlock. What do you want me to do about it?" _Kitty replied, her voice dripping in hatred.

"Wait, how do you know?" Jake asked, outraged that Kitty couldn't have given him a little bit of warning.

_"Because Marley was walking home alone looking more like a neurotic hot mess than usual so I offered her a ride to be nice. I didn't think anything was wrong other than you acting like your usual douchey self, so I let her bitch about it a little bit at the Lima Bean. She told me about how she found the cell phone. By the way, nice move leaving it laying around so she could find it, jackass."_ Kitty answered.

"I didn't mean to! I didn't think she'd find it. What did she say?" Jake continued hesitantly.

_"Just a bunch of crap about how it was morally wrong of you to use Ryder like that and she went into an ethical debate with herself about whether or not she should tell Ryder that it was you. Before you say anything, I think I convinced her well enough to at least wait until after regionals."_ Kitty replied.

"Oh no. Either way, this isn't good at all." Jake groaned.

_"Well on the bright side, you don't have to worry about dumping her first. And I think Chip at the Lima Bean made a little bit of a love connection with her, leaving Ryder completely free for you. It's a win-win for everybody."_ Kitty snickered.

"It's not funny Kitty!" Jake replied furiously.

_"Yes it is. Because I told you that this was a bad idea, but you were stupid enough to go through with it anyway. You reap what you sow, Puckerman."_ Kitty shot back.

"What should I do? I really need your help here." Jake pleaded.

_"It doesn't matter what you do because she'll dump your sorry, three-nippled ass anyway, she was pretty pissed at you. But about Ryder? Stop the Katie thing because he'll find out it was you anyway. Don't do anything rash tonight, we'll figure it out in the morning. And we'll have to see what she does. If she does tell everyone it was you, it's time to grow a pair and face the consequences like a man."_ Kitty said as she ended the call.

Jake never thought this whole thing would spiral out of control like it was. It was just a simple and harmless prank at the time he started it. He thought he was teaching Ryder a lesson about making a move on Marley. He thought he'd make Ryder forget about his romantic feelings for Marley. But he realized he might've either pulled them further apart or perhaps pushed them closer together.


	7. Not a chapter but please read on!

Hey fanfiction universe! Sorry for the radio silence, but I've been super busy. On the upside i have a ton of FF stuff that I can't wait to publish in due time! I loved the upswing of ryley fics on this site and they've all been awesome! I think we're almost about to surpass the amount of Jarley fics lol!

Anyways, I've been shipping jennoist like hard core. I've been on the tag on tumblr far too much over the summer. And I got inspired to write a jennoist fic, a one-shot-possibly longer. I'm almost done with it, but I've felt weird writing fanfiction about real life couples, much less publishing it. But I have a proposition-if anyone wants to read the first jennoist fanfiction on here, shoot me a private message on here. Or even just a yes or no in the reviews. As long as I get at least 10 yes answers by midnight tomorrow. The sooner I get the 10 yeses, the sooner it'll get posted. Please, answer away!

I love y'all lots :)


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